Happy Birthday, Hyuuga
by BookWyrrm
Summary: Neji hates birthdays. He hates cake, the noise, the balloons, the streamers, the presents...wait, did someone say presents?


**Happy Birthday Hyuuga**

Summary: Neji hates birthdays. He hates cake, the noise, the balloons, the streamers, the presents...wait, did someone say presents?

**A/N: Happy (belated) birthday, Neji! Sorry about this fic being a bit late, but I just **_**had**_** to do one. Neji's my favorite character besides Naruto, Kakashi, Obito and the Fourth Hokage. Oh, and Hizashi Hyuuga. So excuse me.**

**This is a little one-shot that's un-edited and liable to typos.**

**Naruto does not belong to me, but to Kishimoto-sensei.**

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Neji Hyuuga hated birthdays.

He didn't know why. Perhaps it was just an impulse, or the plain fact that they were just so...irritating. Neji for the life of him couldn't figure out why anybody could enjoy them, seeing as most of the Konoha 11 either spent it acting like idiots, getting drunk, or staying shut up in their apartment eating month old ramen and expired orange juice.

Of course, there were odd ones in the bunch that actually _enjoyed_ those things. There was always Might Gai, whose birthday was perhaps the most notorious one out of them all. His was usually conjoined with a New Years party that was strictly Jounin and above only. That didn't mean that nobody else hadn't tried to get in. Naruto had been one of the few lucky ones to have actually spent more than five seconds in that crowded house of his. He had come back out shaking and had been traumatized for over a week. Nobody knew what had happened, except for the fact that he made a point of avoiding the rest of the Jounin and shaking at the very mention of New Years.

That was why, on June 3rd, Neji Hyuuga made a plan. A plan that planned on keeping him shut up somewhere safe and secure. A place where nobody could nag him about birthday parties, streamers, or any such thing.

Yes siree, Neji Hyuuga was going to spend his seventeenth birthday in peace, thank you very much.

On the day before, he had made sure to set him alarm to four in the morning sharp and made a point to get to bed early. Everybody at the dinner table had been concerned at the fact that he was skipping dinner to go to _sleep_ of all things. Neji Hyuuga did not ever skip dinner to sleep. Nuh uh. It simply wasn't done.

Which was why, in the middle of the night, he found himself having a long, narrow object stuck into his mouth and people whispering over him. He simply disregarded them. Fools. Let them wait. They'll get their payback on the soonest possible day.

But first, he had to focus on getting away from them.

If only he knew what would happen tomorrow.

Neji woke up to the alarm clock's shrill ringing, coupled with loud noises in the hallway and thumping of the walls. "Wha..." he muttered, yawning and checked the clock. His eyes went wide as he realized what time it was. It was almost nine in the morning, and the shouts outside his door definitely wasn't helping.

"WHAT THE HECK IS IN THERE? A TIME BOMB? NEJI HYUUGA COME OUTSIDE THIS INSTANT!" the loud voice of an elder could be heard, followed by the voice of Hiashi Hyuuga.

"Excuse me, Hitoshi-sama. I'm sure that Neji has a good explanation for this loud noise. Kindly allow me to talk to him." he was saying.

"Well then do so quickly! That darn thing has been ringing since _four am_ in the morning! What kind of an idiot does that? Does he not understand the meaning of a beauty rest?"

A pause. Neji twitched. Beauty rest? Were they pulling his leg or was this for real? "I knew the Hyuugas were a bunch of idiots..." he muttered to himself and got out of bed and got dressed before walking towards the door. No wait. Stop right there. That was a suicide move. Going through the door meant facing them, and facing them meant...

Sighing, he turned around and opened his window. It was a beautiful day out. He glanced outside and then downward at the ground. His heart dropped to his stomach. There were at least five stories separating him from total freedom. How could this happen? On his birthday of all things. The world was too cruel.

He put one leg over the window sill and looked around. Nobody was there, which was good. He didn't want to face anybody. Slowly and carefully, he put the other foot out and gently settled them into a crack in the bricks and began to climb down. It seemed all was going well...

...until that damn crow began to...well...crow.

Neji whirled around startled and quickly lost his footing. He still had three more stories to go, and tried to regain some form of balance but it was too late. He was on the high road to the bottom. And it didn't seem like a soft landing.

The young Hyuuga closed his eyes and thought. Today was going horribly wrong, and it hadn't even started. Why. Why. Why.

He landed with a loud thump upon the dusty ground and lay there for a moment, staring at the brilliant blue sky. That is, until his staring was interupted by a person with two buns on either side of her head and a smiling face.

"Hi Neji!" Tenten exclaimed happily, sitting upon her haunches. "Um, what are you doing on the ground?"

"Contemplating." Neji grunted back. Indeed he was. He was contemplating on life, and why there was this need for birthdays.

Tenten gave him a look, but asked no more. "Isn't today your birthday?" she asked. Neji turned to face her slowly.

"Of course. Why do you think I'm contemplating?" he replied.

His teammate said nothing for a few more moments before sighing angrily and popping back into his view. "_Neji_!" she whined. "Come on, what's your problem? Why are you being such a stick in the mud? True, you're _always_ a stick in the mud, but that's beside the point."

Neji took the moment to glare at Tenten. "That's not helping." he said and sighed. "Tenten, may I ask you something?"

Tenten looked puzzled. "Go ahead." she said.

"Why do we have birthdays?"

The brunette put on a thoughtful face. "That's a tough question, Neji. Well, I suppose that people just use them as excuses to celebrate." she smiled wryly. "Look at Gai-sensei."

Neji didn't smile. "Just get to the point." he said.

"It's just a day for us to celebrate us being older. It's like any other day, except with cake, streamers, etc. A day to hang out with your friends and stuff."

The Hyuuga sighed and stared back at the sky. Figured.

"Oh yeah, and there are also presents."

Neji's ears perked up. "Presents?" he asked. "As in, people give you free things?"

Tenten nodded, smiling. "Uh huh. That's the reason for parties and stuff, but most people don't need to have one. They don't even need a cake to get a present you know. Which reminds me..." she pulled out a small box from her pocket. "Happy Birthday, Neji-kun."

Neji took it carefully. Nobody had ever given him a present before, except during that time when his father had been alive. Of course, soon after, he had died. Many had tried, but hadn't accepted them. Now, for the first time ever, he carefully reached out and pluckedt he box from Tenten's hands.

"Thank you, Tenten." he said gratefully and smiled.

"You're very welcome." she replied before standing up and waving a goodbye before leaving.

Neji looked at the box in his hands.

Maybe birthdays weren't so bad after all.

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**A/N: It's short, and it's vague, but it's my salute to Neji. So enjoy. (:**

**And don't forget to REVIEWW!!**


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